RE: [new_distillers] Re: recycling cooling water

Find a plastic 44 imp gallon (200 litre) second hand drum cut the top off, or at least open it up enough to insert the pump. I actually fit a car radiator to

Message 1 of 8
, Jan 3, 2007

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Find a plastic 44 imp gallon (200 litre) second
hand drum cut the top off, or at least open it up enough to insert the pump. I actually
fit a car radiator to the return line and sit it above the drum so the water
drops out of the radiator into the drum. The breeze usually cools the water
enough, but on hot days I place a pedestal fan from the shed in front of the
radiator. I have found that pumps have a much shortened life span if the
cooling water temperature is prolonged above 50Celcius. And don’t be shy
at spending money on the pump as there is nothing worse than the pump going
firrrtttt early on a Sunday morning as you are setting up to do an honest days
work tending the still and the pump shop is closed.

Drop some sodium bi-metasulphate (sterilizing
powder) or some pool chlorine into the water to keep the water from going off. Water
keeps for months this way.

Obviously if you have a swimming pool then
you would use it instead of the drum. J

I use a 50 gallon plastic tote that I bought at
Walmart for a few
dollars. It is a little on the floppy side, but it hold enough water
for a 12 gallon striping run through a propane heated continuous
still, after 7 hours the temperature of the cooling water is still
cool enough for the condenser.

> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm using a pump to recycle my cooling water in 20 L buckets and I'm
> > finding that it just heats up too fast. Every 30-40 min. I have to
> > switch buckets - giving me extra work and too much tending to the
> > still. Dumping ice doesn't change the temperature by much (it takes
> a
> > lot of ice).
> >
> > Any solutions to this?
>
> Honestly, you need a larger reservoir.
> I use a 30 gallon barrel as my reservoir. It will handle a 2 hour
> stripping run (4 gal/15L wash) without getting too hot. I did a 3
> hour polishing run on 2 1/2 gallons and had to refill it once towards
> the end.
> Of course, YMMV, and conditions may dictate other actions and sizes.
> If you have some sort of radiator where you can cool the cooling
> water, then you may never have to change the water after reaching an
> equilibrium temperature. ..or at least have to change it less
> frequently. This would be far more practical outdoors or in a garage
> than it would be in a kitchen, though.
>
> Trid
> -yikes, run's done...I need to let the ferment go longer next time...
> site